Tempo regulator.



H. KOCH.

TEMPO REGULATOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1, 1909.

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HENRY xoon, or RAHWAY, RAHWAY, NEW

NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE REGINA COMPANY, OF JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TEMPO REGULATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 17 1914.

Application filed. November 1, 1909. Serial No. 525,764.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY Koon, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Rahway, Union county, State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tempo Regulators for Automatically-Played Pianos.

My invention relates to pianos of the class described, in which bellows are operated to produce suction, which suction is employed through the intermediation of a pneumatic motor and through pneumatic devices to drive a perforated note sheet over a tracker board and to operate the piano action in conformity with said driving and with the perforations of the note sheet in a manner well known in the art.

My invention relates particularly to pianos as described, when the bellows are actuated by some form of power-driven motor in which case it is possible to use a note sheet of unusual length which may be perforated with a series of different musical selections, arranged one after the other upon said sheet, and adapted to be played in sequenee or repeatedly, according to the arrangement of the mechanism.

In pianos of the class described, it is usual and necessary to carry the perforated note sheet over the tracker board by winding it upon a suitable take-up roll, said roll being driven by its pneumatic motor at a constant angular speed. Since, however, the note sheet as it is wound upon the take-up roll continuously increases the diameter of said roll, it follows that the linear velocity or rate of movement of said note sheet over the tracker board is constantly increasing so that unless the pneumatic motor is correspondingly decreased in speed the tempo of the given selection is constantly increasing from the beginning to the end of the selection. In case of a single selection, which occupies but little room linearly upon the note sheet, this ble in ordinary cases. Where a number of selections, say five or more, are placed in series upon one note sheet the increased speed of said note sheet over the tracker board caused by the increased diameter of the take-up roll becomes so great as the several selections progress, that the correct musical effect of the selection is entirely lost.

It is the object of my invention to cure the defects as above set forth, by arranging auchange of tempo is neglig1- tomatic means adapted to decrease the angular velocity of the take-up roll as the successive sets of perforations representing selections are wound upon the same, thus maintaining a substantially constant speed of the note sheet over the tracker board.

A further object of my invention is to provide mechanism such that, after the usual rewind has been employed to return the note sheet to its starting point, and it is desired to again start the entire note sheet in its progression over the tracker board, the adjustment for speed will be made to correspond; in other words, to so provide that the angular velocity of the take-up roll shall always be at its maximum as the note sheet begins to advance over the tracker board from its initial and starting position.

My invention does not interfere in any way with the manual tempo adjustment generally provided with pianos of the broad class described. Such adjustment enables one, instantly and at will, to increase or decrease, from what may be termed a normal speed, the speed of the note sheet and hence the tempo of the selection being played; this is accomplished by manual setting of a suitable tempo lever. My invention, however, provides that this normal speed shall not change substantially for any note sheet as it is wound upon the take-up roll; or, put in another .way, that a given setting of the manual tempo lever shall always determine substantially the same linear speed of running for the note sheet regardless of its length or the number of selections which it embodies and regardless as to which part of said note sheet may be in action at the time.

In the drawing accompanying, which illustrates a preferred form of my invention and forms a part of this specification, I have illustrated in Figure 1 only so much of the piano mechanism as may be necessary to understand my improvement; other portions of said mechanism being such as are, with minor variations, commonly used in this class of pianos and well known in the art. In Fig. 2 I have shown, diagrammatically, the new features as related to old features with which they cooperate.

Referring to the drawing, 1 is a part of the piano frame upon which is mounted a valve box 2 (left hand side broken away and not relating to the invention described) closed by a glass cover plate 3. Suction from the main bellows is established in this box through the pipe a leading from the back thereof. To the left of i is an elon gated slot (shown dotted beneath a spring 5' which keeps a slide 6 tightly pressed against the bottom of the valve box) from which (behind the box and therefore not seen in Fig. 1) is led a connection 61 to the pi'ieumatic motor used to drive the takeup roll 60. The slide 6, arranged to move between suitable guides 7 so as to close to a greater or less extent the slot 5, thus shutting oii? suction from the pneumatic motor of the note-sheet roll and consequently slowing the same, is fastened at the end of a rod 8 mounted to slide in bearings 9 and through a hole, which it fits snugly, in the end of the valve box. Suitably positioned upon this red 8 between the bearings 9 is a rack 10 with upwardly directed teeth inclined toward the valve box, Pivoted at 11 upon a metal plate 12, itself attached to frame 1, is a bell crank lever 13 having an upwardly directed arm 14 extending above rack 10 and its other arm 15 extending laterally below the rack; a spring 16 between this latter arm and a point 17 upon plate 12 holds the bell crank lever with its arm l t against a stop 18. Pivoted upon arm 14 at 19 is a pawl 20 normally resting upon the spring-sup porting pin 17 but adapted to engage one of the teeth of rack 10 to advance rod 8 with slide valve 6 when arm 15 of the bell crank lever is depressed until stopped by pin 21. To thus actuate the bell crank lever so as to depress 15, I employ a lever 22 centrally pivoted upon 1 at 23. One end of the lever carries a pin 2%, which rests upon arm 15 while the other end of the lever is connected by link 25 to apneumatic 26 itself joined by a conduit 27 to a valve 28. This valve is of a type common in pneumatic players comprising two connected chambers 29 and 30 the former being open to the external atmosphere and the connection between said chambers being normally closed by a disk 31 attached to a spindle 32 which rests upon a flexible closure 32; this closure divides chamber 30 from a bottom chamber 33. From chamber 30 a connection 34 is led to the main suction bellows, while from the lower chamber 33 is carried a connection 35 to a selected hole in the tracker board. The advance of rod 8 with its slide valve 7 will now be easily understood. hen the note sheet 35 reaches the end of a selection, a suitably determined hole in said sheet uncovers the hole in the tracker board 35 to which conduit 35 is connected. This raises the flexible diaphragm 32 thus closing the opening 35 to the outside atmosphere and creating suction in the pneumatic 26, the lower element of which consequently rises so as to rotate lever 22 in the direction of l l I 1 the arrow depressing the bell crank lever 13; this will cause the rack 10 to be ad vanced one tooth. As soon as the note sheet has advanced suiliciently to again cover the hole in the tracker board corresponding to 35, chamber 29 will again be opened at 35, pneumatic 26 will unfold and pawl 20 slip back over the rack ready to engage another tooth.

I prefer to have but one valve advancing hole for each selection upon a given note sheet so as to advance the slide valve 6 one step only at the end of each selection and making, consequently, but one change of speed for a given selection. But I may, if I choose, employ any desired llllllllJOl of holes distributed throughout the selection, it merely being necessary to make rack 10 sulficiently long and to give it a corresponding number of teeth; in this way and especially by making the teeth of the rack shorter I may even maintain a. constant linear speed of the note sheet within the limits of a single selection.

lVhen the entire series of selections has been played, that is when the entire note sheet has passed over the tracker board and wound upon the take-up roll, I return the slide valve 6 to its initial position by means of a pneumatic 36, the movable element 37 of which is attached at 38 to a lever 39 centrally pivoted at l0 to a lug attached to l and carrying at its upper extremity a pin 41 adapted to engage, when 36 is collapsed, a block 42 fixed to 8 and to carry this block to the left until it is stopped by the end of the valve box thus returning rack 10 and slide 6 to their initial position. I operate pneumatic 3G exactly as was explained for pneumatic 2G viz., by providing a conduit 4:3 leading to a valve 43 exactly like 28 and actuated in the same manner; and by providing a suitable hole in the note sheet, at the end of the series of selections, to uncover a correspondingly located hole which constitutes the terminal of 43 in the tracker bar. A spring (not shown) placed within each of the pneumatics as is common in the art maintains said pneumatics normally unfolded or open.

The normal speed of the note sheet for a given setting of the manual adjustment may be increased or decreased by loosening screw 4st and shifting block 42 to right or left; if necessary rack 10 may be correspondingly shifted.

Many changes of detail, as in the arrange ment designed and operation of parts may be altered without departure from the spirit of my invention which I have embodied in the following laim.

lVhile I have described my invention as applied to an instrument operated by suction, it is clear that but trifling changes would be required in order to apply it to closing mechanism controlled by said pneumatic and connected to said valve, a second pneumatic connected with said second duct, and means controlled by said second pneumatic for reopening said valve, as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

HENRY KOCH.

\Vitnesses:

ELMER G. DILLYOUNG, J OHN A. KEHLENBEOK.

coplel of this patent may be obtained for the cents each, by addreulng the Commiuioner of Yatentl,

Washington, D. C." 

